Top Stocks for October 2021

The Russell 1000 Index is a market-capitalization-weighted index of the 1,000 largest publicly traded companies in the U.S. It represents approximately 92% of the total market capitalization of all listed stocks in the U.S. equity market. For this reason, it is considered a bellwether for large-cap investing. Some of the largest companies in the index include Apple Inc. (AAPL), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), and The Walt Disney Co. (DIS). The Russell 1000 provided a total return of 40.7% over the past 12 months. This market performance number and all data below are as of Sept. 23, 2021.

Here are the top five stocks across all sectors with the best value, the fastest growth, and the most momentum.

Value investing is a factor-based investing strategy that involves picking stocks that you believe are trading for less than what they are intrinsically worth, usually by measuring the ratio of the stock’s price to one or more fundamental business metrics. A widely accepted value metric is the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. Value investors believe that if a business is cheap compared to its intrinsic value, (as measured by its P/E ratio, in this case) the stock price may rise faster than that of others as the price comes back in line with the worth of the company. These are the stocks with the lowest 12-month trailing P/E ratio:

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• UWM Holdings Corp.: UWM Holdings, the indirect parent of United Wholesale Mortgage, operates as a wholesale mortgage lender. The company originates, sells, and services residential mortgage loans across the U.S., including government loans. UWM employs 8,600 people. The company announced in mid-August financial results for Q2 of its 2021 fiscal year (FY), ended June 30, 2021. Net income including non-controlling interests sank 74.3% as revenue fell 41.7% compared to the year-ago quarter.
• Qurate Retail Inc.: Qurate Retail is an e-commerce services company that reaches 218 million homes and operates through seven retail brands, including QVC, HSN, Zulily, Frontgate, Ballard Designs, and Garnet Hill. It partners with television networks, e-commerce sites, streaming services, social pages, mobile apps, and print catalogs to provide video and digital commerce services. 
• Sage Therapeutics Inc.: Sage Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company that develops novel therapies for people with debilitating brain disorders. The company targets diseases and disorders of the brain within key areas such as depression, neurology, and neuropsychiatry. It markets ZULRESSO, a drug for treating postpartum depression, and has a number of drugs in its development pipeline.
• Athene Holding Ltd.: Athene Holding, along with its subsidiaries, is a retirement services company that issues, reinsures, and acquires retirement savings products. Athene Holding has developed four distribution channels: retail, flow reinsurance, institutional products, and acquisitions and block reinsurance. It offers both group and individual annuities, including fixed indexed annuities, multi-year guarantee annuities, registered index-linked annuities, and single premium immediate annuities. Athene announced in mid-July that it has agreed to acquire Foundation Home Loans, a U.K. mortgage lender, from funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group LLC. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
• Annaly Capital Management Inc.: Annaly Capital Management is a diversified capital management company that invests in and finances residential and commercial assets. It invests in agency mortgage-backed securities collateralized by residential mortgages as well as non-agency residential mortgage assets. It also provides financing to private-equity backed middle market businesses with a focus on senior debt in select industries. The company has about $93 billion in total assets.

These are the top stocks as ranked by a growth model that scores companies based on a 50/50 weighting of their most recent quarterly YOY percentage revenue growth and their most recent quarterly YOY earnings per share (EPS) growth. Both sales and earnings are critical factors in the success of a company. Therefore ranking companies by only one growth metric makes a ranking susceptible to the accounting anomalies of that quarter (such as changes in tax law or restructuring costs) that may make one or the other figure unrepresentative of the business in general. Companies with quarterly EPS or revenue growth of over 2,500% were excluded as outliers.

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• Freeport-McMoRan Inc.: Freeport-McMoRan is an international mining company with significant reserves, including of copper, gold, and molybdenum. The company has operations in North and South America as well as in Indonesia. Freeport-McMoRan is one of the world’s largest publicly traded copper producers.
• Ross Stores Inc.: Ross Stores operates two brands of off-price retail apparel and home accessories stores: Ross Dress for Less and dd’s DISCOUNTS. The company offers name brand and designer apparel, accessories, footwear, and home fashions at discount prices. As of year-end FY 2020, the company operated 1,585 Ross Dress for Less locations in 40 states, Washington, D.C., and Guam. It also operates an additional 274 dd’s DISCOUNTS stores in 21 states. Ross Stores announced in mid-July that Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Travis Marquette resigned to join another company. Until a new CFO is appointed, Ross Stores said that its senior finance executives would report to Group President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Michael Hartshorn.
• Louisiana-Pacific Corp.: Louisiana-Pacific makes building materials and engineered wood products to serve the needs of builders, remodelers, and homeowners. While the stock trades on the NYSE under its traditional corporate name, Louisiana-Pacific, the company also calls itself LP Building Solutions. The company’s building products and accessories include oriented strand board, siding and trim, I-joists, laminated veneer lumber, and similar products. It operates 25 plants in the U.S., Canada, Chile, and Brazil. LP Building Solutions announced in late July that a 13% increase in its quarterly cash dividend to $0.18 per share. The dividend was payable on Sept. 1, 2021.
• ConocoPhillips: ConocoPhillips is a global oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) company. It explores for, produces, transports, and markets crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGL), and liquefied natural gas. The company operates in 15 countries and employs 10,300 people. ConocoPhillips recently announced that it has acquired the prolific Delaware basin assets of Shell Enterprises LLC for $9.5 billion. The assets include approximately 225,000 net acres and producing properties in Texas.
• Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.: Chipotle Mexican Grill owns and operates a chain of restaurants serving burritos, burrito bowls, tacos, and salads. The company provides a digital platform for online orders and customer pick-up, both of which have been key drivers of sales during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company operated 2,724 Chipotle restaurants throughout the U.S. as of Dec. 31, 2020.

Momentum investing is a factor-based investing strategy that involves investing in a stock whose price has risen faster than the market as a whole. Momentum investors believe that stocks that have outperformed the market will often continue to do so because the factors that caused them to outperform will not suddenly disappear. In addition, other investors, seeking to benefit from the stock’s outperformance, will often purchase the stock, further bidding its price higher and pushing the stock higher still. These are the stocks that had the highest total return over the past 12 months.

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• GameStop Corp.: GameStop is a specialty retailer that offers games and entertainment products through its e-commerce properties and stores. It operates a chain of 4,816 stores in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Europe. It sells video game hardware, software, gaming accessories, and other entertainment products. The company primarily operates under the names GameStop, EB Games, and Micromania. GameStop’s stock has soared this year amid the “meme” stock frenzy.
• Moderna Inc.: Moderna is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of messenger RNA therapeutics and vaccines. It develops mRNA medicines for infectious, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and autoimmune diseases. It has 15 development programs in the clinical study phase. The company employs more than 1,800 people. Moderna recently announced a supply agreement with the government of Peru for 20 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine. Delivery is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2022.
• Alcoa Corp.: Alcoa is a global mining company focused on the production of bauxite, alumina, and aluminum. Its operations span every major production process within the aluminum value chain. The company also owns a portfolio of energy assets. It operates in 28 different locations across nine countries and employs approximately 12,900 employees in 16 different countries.
• Olin Corp.: Olin is a vertically-integrated global manufacturer and distributor of chemical products. It also owns Winchester, a U.S. manufacturer of ammunition products. Its chemical products include chlorine and caustic soda, vinyls, epoxies, chlorinated organics, bleach, and hydrochloric acid. Winchester produces and distributes sporting ammunition, law enforcement ammunition, reloading components, and related products. The company employs 8,000 professionals and has customers in nearly 100 countries.
• Devon Energy Corp.: Devon Energy is an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. It owns a portfolio of assets located in the U.S. and is primarily engaged in the exploration, development, and production of oil, natural gas, and NGLs. The company employs 1,400 people across the U.S. Devon Energy announced in early August financial results for Q2 FY 2021, the three-month period ended June 30, 2021. The company posted net earnings attributable to it shareholders of $256 million, a significant improvement from the net loss of $670 million reported in the year-ago quarter. Revenue rose 513.5% YOY.

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